Kevin Ware's gruesome injury not common for athletes

A local doctor says the way in which Louisville's Kevin Ware broke his leg Sunday was a rare occurrence.

Trainers check on Louisville guard Kevin Ware (5) after Ware injured his lower right leg during the first half of the Midwest Regional final against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Indianapolis. Ware left the court on a stretcher. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) (Michael Conroy)

York, PA -

When University of Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware suffered a broken leg in the NCAA basketball tournament Sunday, his injury caused an immediate reaction from sports fans. Some viewers and fans called it the most gruesome injury they've seen in sports.

Many called the open -- or compound -- fracture, in which the bone in Ware's lower leg broke the skin, one of the worst they have seen. It drew comparisons to the injury suffered by former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann.

Theismann's leg crumpled under the weight of New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor on Monday Night Football in 1985, whereas Ware jumped in the air in an attempt to block a shot and landed awkwardly. Ware fractured his tibia without making contact with another player.

Ware's injury, although cringe-inducing, is actually a "well-known injury" in the orthopedic community, according to Dr. Brian Bixler, a medical doctor who specializes in treating athletes for OSS Health. A tibia shaft fracture -- a high-energy injury -- is one of the first injuries orthopedists learn to treat, Bixler said.

Although Bixler did note: "It's usually the result of a car or motorcycle accident."

Northeastern High School graduate Nate Fry, a basketball and baseball standout, suffered an open fracture in the more traditional manner. He was injured in a motorcycle accident in 2006, and he recovered from fractures to his tibia and fibula to return to the court at York College.

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What Ware suffered in not a common sports-related injury, Bixler said. But it can happen. Bixler, based primarily out of the OSS Health Powder Mill Campus in York, knows of a high school soccer player in York County who suffered a similar injury. Two players had rushed to kick a ball, and they kicked each other -- shin-on-shin.

When Bixler listened to Ware's televised interview on Wednesday, he was expecting to hear one bit of news. He expected to hear Ware say he had experienced shin splints or had been playing with a stress fracture or a pre-existing condition.

He didn't hear Ware say that, and it surprised him.

A healthy bone almost never breaks in Ware's fashion -- simply by jumping -- Bixler said. The athlete usually has suffered a stress fracture or experienced what an athlete may think is nothing more than shin splints. That's the benefit of having shin splints evaluated, Bixler said. If an athlete knows he or she has a stress fracture, physicians can at least warn them of the worst-case scenario if they continue to compete.

Fortunately for Ware, the injury happened in front of an athletic training staff.

"Someone was there, and while the players on the bench and court reacted by turning away ... medical professionals were running toward the kid," Bixler said. "The athletic trainer kept calm and they're not afraid of the injury."

"The first thing you do is assess the situation to see the severity of the injury, and when it's obvious, like it was in this case you do whatever you can to calm the athlete down," added OSS Health director of sports medicine Bob Burton, who served as the York Revolution athletic trainer for nearly four seasons. "That's why we look to keep people away from the injured athlete, because they can see the reaction on people's faces."

So, as everyone turns or runs away from the gruesome injury, trainers run to it.

"You need the confidence to know what to do when you get to the injured player," Burton said. "That confidence comes with experience."